The CBA Intelligencer

The Government of Anguilla has announced plans to enact a regulatory framework for utility token offerings. According to the Government’s press release, the Anguilla Utility Token Offering Act will apply to tokens that do not have the features of a security, setting out a process for the registration of offerings that have been subject appropriate technical and legal review. The Act also establishes a Utility Token Offering Advisory Committee, made up of private sector participants from the blockchain field.

Anguilla was recently devastated by Hurricane Irma, which will have a long-term impact of the economy of the country as tourism infrastructure has been heavily damaged. Expansion of the country’s offshore finance industry into blockchain-related services could provide an important source of growth and economic diversification. Moreover, projects related to rebuilding infrastructure in the country to support long-term disaster resilience – such as the undergrounding of power lines and the expansion of renewable energy sources – could benefit from the use of utility tokens as an innovative financing mechanism.

The ATECH Foundation, a national organization responsible for fostering Aruba’s technical development, has announced that it is working with Winding Tree, a Swiss startup, to create a blockchain-based travel booking marketplace for the country.

Winding Tree already has agreements with at least two airlines, and the agreement to work in Aruba marks their expansion into hotel booking. As a small country with a lot of hotels, Aruba is viewed as an attractive testing-ground for national deployment of the company’s software. The company is planning on launching their token generation event in February.

The product under development appears to be a B2B marketplace that aims to provide a settlement layer which can be used to manage the transfer of international funds at reduced cost. The application will make use of an ECR-20 token run on top of the Ethereum public blockchain. This token will have extensions to support the ability of travel companies to include traveller information as part of a transaction.

CBA Director speaks on digital financial services

Shiva Bissessar, a Director of the Caribbean Blockchain Association, spoke to the 5th National Cyber Security Conference in Montego Bay, Jamaica. Video of his presentation, which summarizes current development in digital currency, blockchain, and digital financial services as it pertains to the Caribbean region, can be seen on YouTube.

Bitt economist speaks to East Caribbean Central Bank

In November, Marla Dukharan, who recently joined Barbados-based Bitt Inc. in the role of Chief Economist, delivered the 22nd Sir Arthur Lewis Memorial Lecture at East Caribbean Central Bank (ECCB) Headquarters in Saint Kitts. Among other topics, she spoke to the need for the development of a regional digital payments ecosystem, including potential advantages of a “central bank issued digital fiat currency on the blockchain.”

The ECCB has previously indicated that it in discussions with Bitt regarding a pilot implementation of a blockchain-based project.

The Caribbean Blockchain Association advises public institutions and private industry on policy, compliance, and technology issues surrounding the adoption of blockchain and distributed ledger technology. Visit us at https://caribbeanblockchain.org. Please contact us if you have feedback or news ideas.